Now identified with his Oscar-nominated performance as Fagin, a morally airbrushed version of Dickens' villain, in Oliver! (d. Carol Reed, 1968), the London University economics graduate had already made about a dozen films.

On stage from 1952, he specialised in revue, including For Adults Only (1958) and musicals, such as Candide (1959) and Oliver! (1960). His screen career is patchy, with only the odd memorable character spot, like the Prime Minister in The Mouse on the Moon (d. Richard Lester, 1963) and Uriah Heep in David Copperfield (d. Delbert Mann, 1970). There has been plenty of TV (Who's a Good Boy?, 1966) and the US series Nobody's Perfect (1979), but it, like the cinema, has not fully exploited Moody's eccentric, mildly demented persona.